Art, life and facing reality…https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com
...in the digital age.Tue, 26 Sep 2017 19:48:17 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngArt, life and facing reality…https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com
Learning And Livinghttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/learning-and-living/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/learning-and-living/#respondMon, 08 May 2017 23:39:16 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=609Continue reading →]]>Okay, so I’m still internally fighting the power BUT also working and staying more sane at the same time. I realize now that I don’t have as much energy as I did early on today as I was studying but I felt that it was necessary, to go back and fix what I’ve changed over the last several years of being a student at the Academy of Art. I felt like I grew up a lot and that I’m taking more time becoming a serious artist and designer in my final years here, rather than just being an “art student” who is only there for the the college and youth lifestyle (as much as I enjoy witnessing it that’s not really something to aspire to as my future prospect when I’m older).

The web/design industry is super cutthroat compared to other creative industries and they expect you to do your best always, all the time. As an 18 – early 20 something year old that really placed a lot of pressure on me, it wasn’t just walking around San Francisco’s Financial District and eating Chipotle burritos but it was actually doing work. I had already adjusted to life in the United States after living in Israel for seven years and did little to no homework throughout middle and high school. I realized then and there that I had to take my work more seriously, even if one instructor says it was the best they’ve ever seen, then I revise the shit out of it.

On the left is a poster that I first designed for the book Hindsights seven years ago, not really made with much thought, with a font that I liked and some graphics thrown in for interest. On the right is a poster that I’ve designed again for the book, except it took me a while to figure out what type of picture should be used (if it should be drawn by hand or photographed), what kind of font would go well and how everything should be placed. I found a photograph that my family had shot in Colorado, then darkened and blurred out the image in Photoshop, used a white serif based font and rearranged the font to have authors name larger on the very bottom instead of right below the title. It took me more consideration on the second poster in one night than the first one I did in two weeks time.

I felt extremely embarrassed as I was handing in the initial poster to class. I knew the instructor then wouldn’t like it (and it wouldn’t be something that the author himself wanted) But I handed it in anyways because I just needed to hand something in instead of getting a flat-out F by handing in nothing at all (and yes I did believe I would get an A- or higher on my then less-than-stellar poster).

The one thing I learned by designing this is the more your dedicated yourself to something, your more than likely to have something come out beautifully if you grow more serious about it and it took me at least five years to get towards that realization.

First of all, I feel kind of awful not writing in here for so long. Life (and just general nothingness) had ended up getting the best of me.

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president two months ago my anxiety had literally went through the roof and everything that I cared about and took for granted (like freedom of speech and our internet) would be jeopardized. I was ridden with anxiety and there would be days where I would be in tears not knowing were we are heading in this country.

Even before the elections I knew I wanted to get involved and be a part of something. Last month I donated $40 to FreePress.net (and another $10 last week), to help combat some of Trumps policies regarding the press and to help maintain an open internet. The money in return would be used to lobby our politicians make those choices for us. I knew I didn’t have enough money but I felt scared and desperate so I ended up donating, knowing that it would appear in my account. Eventually my mother found out later that I donated to this organization and I told her why I did it and what reason I had for it, she told me that she wasn’t willing to pay for it so I paid her back the $40 that I gave to the organization.

The least that I was able to do was to film a video and post it on Youtube expressing my concerns and encouraging viewers to donate and spread awareness about these issues.

I noticed lately that there has been a huge resistance towards the Trump presidency since he was inaugurated into office. The day following the inauguration was the Woman’s March that took place in Washington DC and around the world, regarding Trump’s stance on women and women’s issues. Overall, I think it’s great that both women and men are spreading awareness on women’s rights. However I had my own reservations regarding the march and why I haven’t expressed my views as openly about it.

We can all agree that racism and sexism has been going on for quite some time in this country, but I think people need to be more open and inclusive when it comes to all different racial and ethnic groups and not be selective by shoving them into a category by defining who’s more black, who’s more Latino or who’s more Muslim. There are so many stories and people that are missing from the march. I don’t feel like Orthodox Jewish and Israeli women aren’t given any standing or visibility in the march (it fell on a Saturday, Orthodox Jews can show up and walk in the march if close by but can’t carry signs or use their smartphones to film or take snapshots). I also think that Christian and secular Arabs aren’t given enough representation than Muslim Arabs, since the later are the most visible and make up the majority of all Arabs.

As much as I questions this and other movements, do I think this is going to change anything within our federal government and how it runs today and in the future? It depends on how serious we are and how hard we’re willing to fight for it.

So in the meantime I’m just getting prepared for school next week and just taking some time to relieve any tension that I was pent up with over break. I would like to be as calm and productive as possible while internally fighting the power!

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/no-see/feed/0sheblumRevised Gallery For New Sitehttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/revised-gallery-for-new-site/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/revised-gallery-for-new-site/#commentsWed, 30 Jul 2014 23:47:21 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=295Continue reading →]]>Before I begin executing the site I redid the links and the gallery portion of the new site.

For the gallery, I took away the white box (like what was used on the Home and About section of the site) and added detailed pictures of the work, when you roll your cursor over each button a white box appears over the detailed work showing the name, date and medium that was used for that particular work. Once you click on each link the picture pops up and is shown in it’s full size.

The last time I’ve done the links for the site three days ago, I wasn’t able to decided exactly what else I wanted to add on the site. So I decided to add a stories and poetry section and an accompanying online forum for the site. Even though they are being used less and less in favor of Facebook, Instagram, Reddit etc, I still feel that forums are a great way to socialize and share different things with other people.

So I just wanted to update you all on the new site, and what changes I made to it so far. I hope I can get this all done by the end of summer vacation, that’s my main goal right now.

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/revised-gallery-for-new-site/feed/2sheblumI'm A Kook New GalleryI'm A Kook New Gallery Trans Rollover 1I'm A Kook New Gallery Trans Rollover 2Brand Spanking New Site, And More…https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/brand-spanking-new-site-and-more/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/brand-spanking-new-site-and-more/#respondSun, 27 Jul 2014 20:59:00 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=280Continue reading →]]>I feel terrible lately for not creating anything. I did a few portraits in Illustrator. I feel like I improved so much on it. Here’s one I did of my bestie Sarah, and another one of a daughter of a former social skills instructor that I used to have.

It seemed like over the years as I was using Illustrator, my work is starting to turn out even better overtime. I didn’t focus too much on detail, because I wanted to make it look as flat as possible. However it did have some dimension with the color and lighting (through the gradient effect) so it still has some type a realism in the picture.

Last Friday, I’ve been working on another brand new website. It’s going to have the same premise as the other one that I was working on, but it’s not going to called LeZine, have tons of pages and features and is guaranteed to not hurt your eyes…

It’s a basic blog/website. Everything else is pretty much self explanatory. I’m doing the whole site with WordPress, and I plan on using a responsive pre made theme so that people are able to use the site easily through a tablet or cellphone. I’m still thinking about what other pages I should add to it though, I do plan on adding an art gallery, and I also plan on having a resource page (particularly on art and music). I find whatever sparks my interest, and I post it in that section, and visitors are free to do the same too and are free to comment or discuss on that particular interest. It’s still very complex though, so it’s still in the works. If you have any suggestions of your own then that would be really great.

For the layout, I drew and assembled the pattern myself, the flowers are based on Indian/Mod florals. I was flipping through one of my art books for different color combos and thought that the sky blue/white/black mix looked nice. I used a western style font for the title/logo, the font I’ve used for everything else is the Archer font instead of a typical Helvetica or Times New Roman font for a stylized typewriter effect.

The overall design of the website is based on a variety of sources and the primary inspiration for the design was based on the low-brow Mission School movement which was based in San Francisco, California from the 1990s to the very beginning of the 21st century (Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen and Chris Johanson were notable members). There art is based on a diverse array of contemporary/traditional influences; such as graffiti, comic and folk art and then updated to reflect the society and culture of that era. Some of the artists were self taught, while some of them had some formal training (most of them had attended the San Francisco Art Institute, hence the “School” name). What really struck me most about this movement, is how relevant it still is to most artists today. These days there are even web and new media designers that are using the same type of indie/DIY aesthetic the Mission School artists used in their work. It’s very low key, but fun and eye catching at the same time. I have visited the Energy That Is All Around exhibition, which was held at the Walter and McBean Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute last year and had it’s run at Grey Art Gallery at New York University early this year. Pictures from the exhibition in San Francisco can be seen here.

The new name of the website is I’m A Kook which is taken from Margaret Kilgallen’s final 2001 installation Main Drag, featuring some of her trademark figures, wording and foliage. In one large panel of the installation, it features a street scene with a few pedestrians walking across. In it, it shows two surfer talking two each other, with one of them saying “www.imakook.com” and another one saying “www.crappysurf.com” which parodies the dot-com boom and the internet culture of that era (people don’t use www in front of a web address anymore). I also wanted to use that name for the site because I thought it sounded humorous. Plus it’s a word that Kilgallen would use often in her own work. It was first shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philedelphia, the Whitney Biennal in 2002 and at MOCA’s Art In The Streets in Los Angeles three years ago. Pictures of it can been seen over here.

So overall I’ve been doing well, I went to the Boardwalk last week just because I felt very bummed out and wanted to do something fun and exciting to keep myself happy. I’ve been working for my parents, so basically I’m just doing whatever I can to keep myself busy and occupied over the summer. It help me feel more inspired and more motivated to work, because it’s been really lacking lately… until then, have a beautiful, inspiring and drama free summer. Cheers!

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/brand-spanking-new-site-and-more/feed/0sheblumSarah-Dooley-(Portrait)Lilli Gallo (Portrait)I'm A Kook HomepageI'm A Kook GalleryI'm A Kook InfoBeing Sick Suckshttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/being-sick-sucks/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/being-sick-sucks/#respondWed, 23 Apr 2014 00:31:16 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=263Continue reading →]]>So I’ve been working a studying a lot over the past few months (I’ve also been celebrating Passover the other week and we have to keep this holiday for one more day) and for some reason I came down with an annoying sore throat that I will not go away. I couldn’t use Cold-Eaze (because it contains corn syrup, an ingredient derived from corn, which isn’t allowed on Passover and is considered kitnyot) which sucks because it works really well and helps fight colds (and incoming colds) off faster. So I just waited for it to pass, but it didn’t and it just kept getting worse. I’ll probably wind up with a painful sore throat or a stuffy and runny nose, or both.

I love the weather here in the Bay Area, but I really can’t stand it sometimes. There were days when it would be sunny and would be around 50 degrees and a few others were it would be cloudy but around 70 degrees. I would have a hard time figuring out what to wear during weather like that and I’m always scared of getting sick because I would’t be wearing warm enough clothing when I’m out.

I’ve also noticed that my colds are becoming less worse as I got older. I was in bed a lot, and couldn’t even blow my own nose and didn’t dress warm enough then. It mostly depended on the climate, are bodies are less resistant to germs and diseases when we are in cooler weather. It was always really cold as I was living on Long Island (New York) and my colds would be very excruciating, my sore throats would feel like having a big huge lump in my throat and would have a very heavy and stuffy nose. I felt very week and was always in bed and if I was out of bed I felt very zombie like (I noticed this again while I was attending a cousins wedding in Queens a few years ago). Once we moved back to Israel for seven more years then my colds and sore throats became much lighter and didn’t have them that frequently. Israel is known for it’s warm weather and sometimes it would be year round (it didn’t even rain there for six years one time). I sore throats would still hurt, and sometimes they would be even worse than a stuffy nose, which are almost non-exsistant. Yeah, your nose is runny but it isn’t stuffy and crusty with dry mucus. As I moved to the Bay Area my colds were the same as I was living in Israel (the climate here is almost identical to that in Israel).

But in spite of it I make sure that I try warding off one as much as possible, I dress warmer and I try getting up and do more active things instead of just lying in bed all day (I did that already during my Passover vacation).

All you really have to do to just be healthy and active, and to stay informed, and that’s all there is to being cold-free all season long and year round.

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/being-sick-sucks/feed/0sheblumBack To Schoolhttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/back-to-school/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/back-to-school/#respondFri, 21 Feb 2014 05:49:01 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=255Continue reading →]]>Wow… it looks like I’ve been abandoning this blog for quite some time. I don’t feel there’s really that much to say and prefer that much of my life is away from public eyes as much as possible.

Speaking of privacy I had to make one post private, because I felt like I was releasing to much personal info in that post. I wrote that entry nine months ago and didn’t realize it would effect anyone who would come across it. I’ve learnt that some (if not most) things are meant to be kept private. In that case, I am very sorry…

So I’ve began school again four weeks and have been taking all of my work very seriously. I didn’t realize until late last year that if I’m going to be in the web and design business than I have to study and work hard to build my portfolio in order for me to get hired. As I started studying more I noticed that much of my work has significantly improved and has gotten more professional overtime. Before I felt like school work was like work, but since the portfolio class from last year I was able to improve on my project from the pervious semesters and during this semester I was able to focus and write down notes in class. It’s still work, but it no longer feels like forced work.

When you have an instructor that respects you and give you constructive criticism, then that’s what helps you get better as a student. I don’t think I would of done any better if I had a instructor who criticizes his students and their work all time (and just treats them like crap) just because he feels that he can. I just can’t work with a person who has that kind of attitude, it never helps anyone and it just makes it even harder for that person to focus and do better.

Of course when I first started attending Academy of Art University (in 2008), I didn’t know anything about branding and web design, and had very little knowledge on using Illustrator or Photoshop. I was mostly into Fine Art, but I chose Computer Art/New Media (now known as Web Design/New Media) because I knew that there would be a big demand for that kind of work. My earlier work was very poor to subpar. I didn’t listen to much in class, and I kept being told to do better and I hated that, I always kept thinking that my work looked great even if it looked like utter crap to everyone else. I just wasn’t able to accept any kind of critism, and all of my work ended up really shoddy. It wasn’t until four to five years later that my work needed an overhaul, and that my ultra-resistant attitude to my work needed one too.

So eventually I was able to practice with the Adobe Suite, did some research on different branding/logo designs, tried to learn all the coding in HTML/CSS and overtime that really helped me familiarize and become more adapted to it. I didn’t feel like that all of this was so foreign to me anymore, therefore I was able to do well in all of my work as well.

I feel that I still have more time to do better and learn more with each passing semester. I’m really happy with the path that I’m on now and I feel that this is the kind of job I would want to do for the rest of my life.

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/back-to-school/feed/0sheblumIt’s Been A Long Time…https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/its-been-a-long-time/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/its-been-a-long-time/#respondSun, 22 Dec 2013 18:46:56 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=244Continue reading →]]>Hey everyone, I just feel really bad about not updating this blog for awhile. It’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I’ve been very focused on school and in real life. I know that updating on Twitter and Facebook in every waking minute is the “norm” but to me it gets in the way of so many other things that I really want to do later on in the future. My work is becoming a huge priority to me now more than ever so it’s best for me to improve on my oeuvre and to continue creating more new work.

I just really love living in the Bay Area. For one, my father’s job is here, and second that’s where I attend school. It’s a very beautiful and forward thinking place, it’s like this place was designed for me. After living here for five years I can never imagine living anyplace else, my father is trying to find another job because he’s dissatisfied with the one he is working for now. I’m not sure that’s going to actually happen, but I just hope he isn’t required to move outside of the region. I remember the time when he just got hired at his current job he flew to the US and left me, my mother and brother behind in Israel for three years. At first he was living for a time in Minnesota, then later in Illinois and then finally in Northern California. He lived in three different towns in three different states before me and my mother had moved in with him permanently.

So that’s basically it for now. I’m just really looking forward to creating and exploring different things during break. I really can’t promise anything because if I do then it doesn’t actually happen at all in the end. I’ll try my best, but yet again I a’int promising anything….

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/its-been-a-long-time/feed/037.308380 -121.91780437.308380-121.917804sheblumLeZine So Far/How Three Wrongs Don’t Make A Righthttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/lezine-so-farhow-three-wrongs-dont-make-a-right/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/lezine-so-farhow-three-wrongs-dont-make-a-right/#respondThu, 01 Aug 2013 16:47:26 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=165Continue reading →]]>I’ve gotten myself to work more on the zine. I’ve just finished the prototype, all I need to do right now is put it all in HTML. I’m usually really good at designing and creating websites, but I’m terrible at coding. It will take me some time like anything else, so please be patient…

Here is some of what I mapped out for the site.

For the homepage…

Example page (for the About page)…

In the beginning of the site, the user will arrive at the blue welcome page. The categories are featured on the left side of the website and each category contains certain pages. It suddenly rolls out with all of the pages while the user places their cursor on each category. It’s like rummaging around through a file cabinet.

Aside from the website I added two new pictures in the gallery in this blog and on my DeviantArt profile. I designed three logos for three different contests on DesignContest that failed with the message saying “The client says you are going in the wrong direction”. What I don’t like about these things is that if I my design fails, then I would have to revise them like heck and they’re all done in a limited time frame, so I like to take more time to fix things up and make them look nice and I can’t while participating in an online logo contest. There is just so much competition and I have always been pretty dubious of these contests for sometime, so I don’t think I’ll ever take part in one again. I prefer working with someone who will accept my designs and to give me more time to rework them.

Well I guess that’s it for now, last month had been such a blur. Hopefully things will be a bit more different and maybe even better.

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/lezine-so-farhow-three-wrongs-dont-make-a-right/feed/0sheblumSite-For-LeZineSite-For-LeZine-AboutStill Working On Zine/Logo & Web Design Contesthttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/still-working-on-zinelogo-web-design-contest/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/still-working-on-zinelogo-web-design-contest/#respondTue, 09 Jul 2013 04:40:56 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=192Continue reading →]]>I’m so sorry for not adding anything new recently, I was experiencing a creative crunch. I haven’t even tweeted at all for several days, I started posting there less frequently on twitter after the road trip and started adding random quotes and pictures instead. It’s like an idea board now, I just write all the deeply personal info in my Facebook instead.

I’m beginning to have a hard time now coming up with more ideas for the zine, I thought of the layout design but I need to really dig in to more research and look up different kinds of actual zines before I really delve into it. I haven’t even done html for my site yet. I’ve realized now that this is going to be a huge job and I would love it if at least two people would volunteer with me on this project. That would mean a lot to me.

Aside from the zine my mother kept suggesting to me to sign up for a website called LogoTournament. It’s basically a crowdsourcing website in which a business can hold a contest and designers can submit their logos towards that particular contest, and the winner receives $275 to $575. Initially I was reluctant to join, because I might not even win in any of these contests. I would have to submit ten different logos to to each contest in order to have a greater chance at winning. Right now I’m on the waiting list, so I signed on to DesignContest and had already submitted five logos to each contest on that site. Click over here to see some of the work I’ve done so far. Doing this helped me feel more motivated to work more in my opinion, and will help add more work to my oeuvre.

Other then that, my birthday is going to come up tomorrow, I will officially be twenty-three years old. I feel I’ve grown up so fast in these past five years since my mother and I moved back to the states from Israel for college, I’ve also had the chance to learn more about myself and my surroundings as well. That everything in life isn’t exactly how you would like it to be and that you have to work painfully hard in order to get what you want. That you shouldn’t trust people in high positions of power so much (like doctors and politicians) and to always be more open and true to yourself. I’m glad I was able to realize that because one day we might not have that kind of chance anymore.

So thats it, I hope you all had a great summer so far and I will be sure to add some new stuff here as soon as possible. It may take some time, like anything else… but it will be really exciting and awesome in the end.

]]>https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/still-working-on-zinelogo-web-design-contest/feed/0sheblumUpcoming Zinehttps://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/upcoming-zine/
https://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/upcoming-zine/#respondTue, 18 Jun 2013 15:26:31 +0000http://sheblumshellsbytheshore.wordpress.com/?p=176Continue reading →]]>I haven’t added any new work here or on DeviantArt lately, but there is no need to worry because I am currently working on a brand new website that I promised I would do in the next couple of months. I didn’t know before exactly what I would like to work on and I figured I would do a e-zine. It’s also a participatory project so if you are ever interested working on it in any way then please let me know in the comments section or through email.

I’ve been getting into zines and zine culture lately, and there are many reasons why I feel this is one of the best forms of media. For one, there is a very sentimental and unique quality to a zine. a lot of them are done by hand, and takes the creator/publisher a lot more time and effort. The creator can decorate his/her zine in any style they wish, so it’s a limitless and cross-cutural medium, they can make it either completely minimalistic or highly abstract and decorative. In the past people did zines from all kinds of subcultures such as punk and hip-hop. Since they are wholly independent from any publishing company they are free from any kinds of advertising and censorship, so the creator can whatever content he/she desires, like gore and pornography and not get sued for it. They can criticize corporations and their government openly without having to edit or completely censor certain kinds of information that they fear would put them in a negative light. They are either sold in small local stores or are given from the creator to the individual for free. Most importantly this is one of the very few forms of media that can never be commodified (be used only for money basically), and can be used for its true purpose.

So I did some sketches, and had gathered some public domain images and my own illustrations to add to the site. It will be based on a variety of topics, such as culture and commentary. It will be divided into four categories; which are news, media, style and an about page regarding the e-zine. Each article of every page will be entirely different and unique from each other, just like in a traditional zine. Below is the proposed logo for the new zine.

It’s a combination of script and print, I used a combo of my own handwriting for the script and an altered Bauhaus font for the print.

It’s simple just designing for it, but it takes a lot longer building it and putting it together. I’m hoping that it will be complete sometime around August, before I get back to school. Again if anyone is interest in participating with me on this project then please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you.